Tracklist

Hello again! I had not been well for quite some time , but here I am again reviewing another hardcore album, this one comes all the way from the land of Teutonic thrash , but if you think I am going to review some Kreator worshipping band than you are far from right .The band in question is NVRVD and the genre that they play is actually one whose ancestors helped give rise to the birth of Thrash in general.

NVRVD is a three piece from Bielfeled, Germany consisting of Stefan Braumschmidt (Bass, vocals) Lukas Heier (Drums, Sound) and Christian Braumschmidt (Guitar, Vocals). Although the band’s music can be described as Modern Hardcore , the band does its best to be more than just that with songs like Oborhoe in which the band uses haunting wails accompanied by very slow , sinister bass which is very reminiscent of the sluggish forms of powerviolence , whereas the second track , Impartial Eyes takes a slight melodic turn with twangy , a little overdriven, slightly black metallish guitars and to top it all. And to add to it there are two interesting post metal songs here as well, especially An Echo to your Unbelief’s which has a very 70’s spy movie feel to it . But honestly all of this is good but where the band really excels is when it comes to just going full speed ahead and knocking the listeners dead with some crushing guitar chugs accompanied by some very complex yet intricately carved dissonance which just go all over the place like a screw ball ,accompanied by some really simple yet powerful drumming.

So the final verdict? Although this band isn’t particularly doing anything which hasn’t been done before, they have managed to come up with a pretty good ep which is good for what it is, and in general, their craft is much more direct, more impactful than their contemporaries.

As metal, as a genre broadens its horizons with the word experimentation thrown about rather too freely, a small portion of it chooses ‘restraint’ as their path ahead. In a way this rids the genre of one of its more primal elements, the deep rooted proclivity to aggression. Yes doom, sludge and stoner does come under this rather broad yet small terminology and yet they show more in common with the metal aesthetic than this relatively newer offspring. The art of restraint and the beauty that lies within, is best emulated in the genre that is post-metal. Heralded by Neurosis in the late 90s the genre has now gained household status. Together with Isis, they seem to have garnered worldwide attention with their brand of musical restraint which has been rather inanely dubbed ‘thinking man’s metal’. What with their cryptic yet thought provoking lyricism, it really does not seem far off. Unfortunately like anything new what follows is a wave after wave of insipid stereotypes paying homage at the same altar. But like the preacher and the preached, the bands and their influences, markedly differ in execution. Mediocrity sets in and holds ground.

We recommend that you listen to the album while reading the review.

Now we come to one such prospective humdrum all set to make your time uneventful yet again. Fortunately it is not to be. The Danes in Redwood Hill instill their brand of post metal with the harrowing tendencies of black metal. The blackened element seems to be more in line with the likes of Burzum, Xasthur, early Forgotten Tomb than compared to the likes of the acidic ferocity of say, Mayhem and Gorgoroth. Opener Aten and Dybukk are more straightforward post-metal, the latter being the more hard hitting, featuring a short clean vocal section where guitarist Toby utters in hushed innuendos :

“Like rocks into rivers,

Like trails in the dust”

One tends to feel a sense of strong conviction behind these verses, unlike their contemporaries. The blackened side of the band makes its presence felt on the track Tristesse where a foreboding clean guitar line sets the stage for the heart rending blackened assault that is to follow. The discernible change in the vocal style into the more raspy and abrasive one serves to be a perfect illustration of the fact. When Tristesse is about to completely overwhelm the listener with its suicidal connotations you are ushered in with the melodious intro of Poseidon which seems to have slipped its way into my ‘my personal favorite’ category with much ease. A tormenting melody permeates throughout the entire track all the while serving as a build up to the epic climax which features one of the catchiest lead lines heard in a bloody long while. A closer analysis of this part will make it clear that the drumming does not remain subdued as is staple throughout the genre. Andreas plays with a certain clinical restraint, adding in fills and rolls where it only matters and striking a perfect balance overall. The guitars and bass, in Toby, Brian and Jens populate the bleak setting with even bleaker elements, all the while never failing to eke out an emotive melody or two. Croatoan’s sludgy rhythm, closer September’s contrast of moderately uplifting(by strictly depressive standards) and arching dissonance further exemplifies the fact that how good an album this is.

Innately depressive, both post- metal and black metal combine to deliver a thoroughly potent concoction in Descender. An interesting portrayal of everything forlorn that you must not miss.

This one is a one man project from Finland, and they have been in the scene for quite a while now. Its a shame that most of us haven’t been introduced to this band yet. And yes, they are freaking awesome !!! I had to get my hands on their previous releases before I could put this one down in words, and somehow I did (don’t ask, don’t tell 😛 ). Most of the post-rock/metal bands I’ve been listening to , try to put elements of symphony and shoegaze and mix them up bitterly to call themselves post bands, but not CRP ( I’m lazy!)). I can honestly say to all the post-rock/shoegaze listeners out there, that if you haven’t discovered this band yet, this will be something very, very different then what you’ve been listening to so far.

Tacit starts with a very jazzy intro, in the name of “Colossus I : Legacy”. I’ve always admired the use of Saxophone in post-rock, and CRP knows exactly how to impress me with transitions 😀 ! As you make your way though the album, you start to sense all the minute detailing they have put in the making of this album. Next up “Mercurial”, have some powerful post-metal riffs, and is a delighting composition indeed. It’s actually tough to make something post and not make it sound single toned, but to use the same single toned pitch and cast it into something this beautiful is an art unto itself. The blend of heavy as well as light riffage here, more than deserves acknowledgment. By the time I reached “Colossus II: Thrashing” it looked as if the album is basically about the “Colossus” story, and the rest are all fillers, and by fillers I don’t mean they are not as good as the rest, but they take the role of supporting acts of the branched story the album is trying to convey. “Decay Practice” on the other hand , is deficient of creativity, but then I guess it was not meant to hit home anyway.What follows, are the last 2 tracks of the Colossus series, and shit you not, this guy is a genius. They’ve been designed to deliver a blend of lineal atmospheric silence and heavily distorted riffs that will have the listener fall into an aural trance. “Lost Mnemonics” is a small track, composed to play the bridge between the end of the Colossus story by “null & void” and the end of album. Bright acoustics, dark piano…and well placed distorted sounds make up the
“The unknown known”. The last 10 minutes of this elegant, swift and deeply terrifying journey of music is as good as it gets.
Tacit is something that will require multiple listens to truly appreciate its ethereal beauty. And I won’t be ashamed to admit that this album was beyond my deciphering capabilities. Nonethless it still is an experience that is totally worth the length.